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Daring-class Battlecruiser
The Daring-class battlecruisers were a stop-gap endeavour undertaken by the fledgling Caspian Democratic Union for use in their newly-formed Navy. They were assembled in haste between 4 ABY and 6 ABY, providing the Union with a force of warships to defend the principality while more redoubtable projects were being developed. They were large and cumbersome, but heavily armed and well-shielded so as to stand their ground and ward off most incursions. With no two exactly alike, the class has been referred to more aptly as the Daring Project or colloquially as The Dirty Dozen. Background & Work-up The plans for the Daring-class (better known as the Daring Project) were conceived in the months following the foundation of the Union itself. The new Navy was sorely lacking substantial warships — what vessels they possessed were either still in the process of being completed, were dilapidated or not up to the task, or were of Roj's own fleet. Indeed, it was discovered that Roj's own flagship, ''Repulse'', was so exhausted and extensively "worn out" that several close to the Admiral decided that the ship was beyond effective repair. ''Hood'', languishing in a makeshift slipway, received the next focus of attention, and every effort was made to complete her in proper fashion. But one new battlecruiser wasn't going to be enough. A few enterprising engineers in Roj's fleet, in investigating the new society and culture they had found themselves, happened upon the "kitbashing" efforts being done at the nearby Yariz star system. Those at Lokkai Starworks had been massing together all sorts of ship components to produce one-offs, albeit effective ones, for various organizations of ill or questionable repute (ie. the Hutts). Soon, a working relationship was forged, and the Dreadnaught Daring made her way from Victoria Drydocks to Nenawirth Yards to be "tinkered with". The two groups got along so well that they laid the groundwork for talks between the two local governments, and within the year, Yariz was a constituent world in the Union. A Daring Proposition The vessel was found to be in remarkable shape, structurally, and save for the repair of battle damage, the cutting of new turret-rings, and the amputation of unnecessary superstructures, the hull remained almost entirely untouched. The vessel's reactors and power-distribution systems were deemed to be more than adequate for their needs (incorporating near-perverse levels of capacity). It was deemed that there would be considerable difficulty in replacing these systems, and the hyperspace drives, so these systems were only slightly modified. Most other systems were gutted and replaced with modern hardware. To keep costs and teething difficulties down, Lokkai limited itself to using proven hardware. The remaining hull, now considerably lighter, was mated to a faster, modern sublight drive (using the high-impulse thrusters originally developed for the Hurricane-class carrier), resulting in a faster, vastly more responsive vessel. Modern sensor arrays were added, both for search and fire control. Since the original hull escaped radical rebuild, the ship was not quite as durable as a modern ship of the line, but the Lokkai engineers took every opportunity to arm her to the teeth. In addition to a good balance of heavy turbolasers, quad-lasers, and ion cannons, much of the 'dead-space' was packed with heavy missile cells (using the simpler Dymek -brand launchers yanked off of impounded or damaged foreign ships) fitted with cellular anti-blast magazines to prevent ammunition mishaps. Even with the upgraded armament, and notably improved living conditions aboard, the ship still had sufficient space to embark a battalion-sized task force of Marines, and a crude docking hub upon which to dock the assault craft to carry them. The design conceived by Lokkai was not a true battleship, but a battlecruiser, lighter and more mobile. So invigorating and encouraging was the progress that the group was soon seeking out another vessel to do this transformation to. In the meantime, they presented the vessel to an apprehensive Admiralty. The initial review was by no means unanimously optimistic. The manpower requirements of old hulls such as this was immense, the internal workings complicated, and most would have unrepaired battle-damage. Many questioned the urgency of the need, and more pacifist, Caspar-centric elements questioned the need for combatants of this scale at all. With this initial skepticism facing them, the group embarked on a series of trials, with the Admiralty observing from the sloop Makovica and broadcasting a feed back to the Union Assembly. The reborn ship surprised her detractors by completing all space-trials presented without blowing herself to pieces, and performed well enough that the Admiralty was promptly willing to authorize follow-on vessels. An overjoyed Ligus Honstead, lead engineer on the project, stunned the gathered officers – many under whom he'd served – by replying, "Sirs, we're already towing in three more to start on." This was a bit of a fib, since all the team had managed to locate and acquire by this time was another Dreadnaught hulk (that would go on to be Fearless) in severe disrepair. Nevertheless, Admiral <''name needed''> of the Krittish contingent responded, in classic Krittish deadpan, "Better make it seven, lad. And we'll pay for it." Project Expanded By the close of the year, all of the Union had embarked on bold revitalization and construction projects, covering a broad range from economy to military. Whole tracts of territory were seeing improvements in technology, transportation, and convienience. And all of it was defended by a reshapen Navy. At this point, a tremendous amount of work was underway Category:Capital Ships Category:Lokkai Ships